TRANSLATIONS.
Reading edition
PILPAY (or BIDPAI.)[691:1]
We ought to do our neighbour all the good we can. If you do good, good will be done to you; but if you do evil, the same will be measured back to you again.[691:2]
Dabschelim and Pilpay. Chap. i.
It has been the providence of Nature to give this creature [the cat] nine lives instead of one.[691:3]
The Greedy and Ambitious Cat. Fable iii.
There is no gathering the rose without being pricked by the thorns.[691:4]
The Two Travellers. Chap. ii. Fable vi.
Wise men say that there are three sorts of persons who are wholly deprived of judgment,—they who are ambitious of preferments in the courts of princes; they who make use of poison to show their skill in curing it; and they who intrust women with their secrets.
The Two Travellers. Chap. ii. Fable vi.
Men are used as they use others.
The King who became Just. Fable ix.
What is bred in the bone will never come out of the flesh.[691:5]
The Two Fishermen. Fable xiv.
Guilty consciences always make people cowards.[691:6]
The Prince and his Minister. Chap. iii. Fable iii.
[692]
Whoever . . . prefers the service of princes before his duty to his Creator, will be sure, early or late, to repent in vain.
The Prince and his Minister. Chap. iii. Fable iii.
There are some who bear a grudge even to those that do them good.
A Religious Doctor. Fable vi.
There was once, in a remote part of the East, a man who was altogether void of knowledge and experience, yet presumed to call himself a physician.
The Ignorant Physician. Fable viii.
He that plants thorns must never expect to gather roses.[692:1]
The Ignorant Physician. Fable viii.
Honest men esteem and value nothing so much in this world as a real friend. Such a one is as it were another self, to whom we impart our most secret thoughts, who partakes of our joy, and comforts us in our affliction; add to this, that his company is an everlasting pleasure to us.
Choice of Friends. Chap. iv.
That possession was the strongest tenure of the law.[692:2]
The Cat and the two Birds. Chap. v. Fable iv.
Footnotes
HESIOD. Circa 720 (?) b. c.
(Translation by J. Banks, M. A., with a few alterations.[692:3])
We know to tell many fictions like to truths, and we know, when we will, to speak what is true.
The Theogony. Line 27.
On the tongue of such an one they shed a honeyed dew,[692:4] and from his lips drop gentle words.
The Theogony. Line 82.
Night, having Sleep, the brother of Death.[692:5]
The Theogony. Line 754.
[693]
From whose eyelids also as they gazed dropped love.[693:1]
The Theogony. Line 910.
Both potter is jealous of potter and craftsman of craftsman; and poor man has a grudge against poor man, and poet against poet.[693:2]
Works and Days. Line 25.
Fools! they know not how much half exceeds the whole.[693:3]
Works and Days. Line 40.
For full indeed is earth of woes, and full the sea; and in the day as well as night diseases unbidden haunt mankind, silently bearing ills to men, for all-wise Zeus hath taken from them their voice. So utterly impossible is it to escape the will of Zeus.
Works and Days. Line 101.
They died, as if o'ercome by sleep.
Works and Days. Line 116.
Oft hath even a whole city reaped the evil fruit of a bad man.[693:4]
Works and Days. Line 240.
For himself doth a man work evil in working evils for another.
Works and Days. Line 265.
Badness, look you, you may choose easily in a heap: level is the path, and right near it dwells. But before Virtue the immortal gods have put the sweat of man's brow; and long and steep is the way to it, and rugged at the first.
Works and Days. Line 287.
This man, I say, is most perfect who shall have understood everything for himself, after having devised what may be best afterward and unto the end.
Works and Days. Line 293.
Let it please thee to keep in order a moderate-sized farm, that so thy garners may be full of fruits in their season.
Works and Days. Line 304.
[694]
Invite the man that loves thee to a feast, but let alone thine enemy.
Work and Days. Line 342.
A bad neighbour is as great a misfortune as a good one is a great blessing.
Works and Days. Line 346.
Gain not base gains; base gains are the same as losses.
Works and Days. Line 353.
If thou shouldst lay up even a little upon a little, and shouldst do this often, soon would even this become great.
Works and Days. Line 360.
At the beginning of the cask and at the end take thy fill, but be saving in the middle; for at the bottom saving comes too late. Let the price fixed with a friend be sufficient, and even dealing with a brother call in witnesses, but laughingly.
Works and Days. Line 366.
Diligence increaseth the fruit of toil. A dilatory man wrestles with losses.
Works and Days. Line 412.
The morn, look you, furthers a man on his road, and furthers him too in his work.
Works and Days. Line 579.
Observe moderation. In all, the fitting season is best.
Works and Days. Line 694.
Neither make thy friend equal to a brother; but if thou shalt have made him so, be not the first to do him wrong.
Works and Days. Line 707.
Footnotes
THEOGNIS. 570(?)-490(?) b. c.
Wine is wont to show the mind of man.
Maxims. Line 500.
No one goes to Hades with all his immense wealth.[694:1]
Maxims. Line 725.
Footnotes
[695]
[These selections from the most famous gnomic sayings of the great tragic writers of Greece—Æschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides—are chiefly from the fragments and not from their complete plays. The numbers of the fragments refer to the edition of Nauck. They are selected and translated by M. H. Morgan, Ph. D., of Harvard University.]
ÆSCHYLUS. 525-456 b. c.
I would far rather be ignorant than wise in the foreboding of evil.[695:1]
Suppliants, 453.
"Honour thy father and thy mother" stands written among the three laws of most revered righteousness.[695:2]
Suppliants, 707.
Words are the physicians of a mind diseased.[695:3]
Prometheus, 378.
Time as he grows old teaches many lessons.
Prometheus, 981.
God's mouth knows not to utter falsehood, but he will perform each word.[695:4]
Prometheus, 1032.
Learning is ever in the freshness of its youth, even for the old.[695:5]
Agamemnon, 584.
Few men have the natural strength to honour a friend's success without envy. . . . I well know that mirror of friendship, shadow of a shade.
Agamemnon, 832.
Exiles feed on hope.
Agamemnon, 1668.
Success is man's god.
Choephoræ, 59.
[696]
So in the Libyan fable it is told That once an eagle, stricken with a dart, Said, when he saw the fashion of the shaft, "With our own feathers, not by others' hands, Are we now smitten."[696:1] Frag. 135 (trans. by Plumptre).
Of all the gods, Death only craves not gifts: Nor sacrifice, nor yet drink-offering poured Avails; no altars hath he, nor is soothed By hymns of praise. From him alone of all The powers of heaven Persuasion holds aloof. Frag. 146 (trans. by Plumptre).
O Death the Healer, scorn thou not, I pray, To come to me: of cureless ills thou art The one physician. Pain lays not its touch Upon a corpse. Frag. 250 (trans. by Plumptre).
A prosperous fool is a grievous burden.
Frag. 383.
Bronze is the mirror of the form; wine, of the heart.
Frag. 384.
It is not the oath that makes us believe the man, but the man the oath.
Frag. 385.
Footnotes
SOPHOCLES. 496-406 b. c.
Think not that thy word and thine alone must be right.
Antigone, 706.
Death is not the worst evil, but rather when we wish to die and cannot.
Electra, 1007.
There is an ancient saying, famous among men, that thou shouldst not judge fully of a man's life before he dieth, whether it should be called blest or wretched.[696:2]
Trachiniæ, 1.
In a just cause the weak o'ercome the strong.[696:3]
Œdipus Coloneus, 880.
[697]
A lie never lives to be old.
Acrisius. Frag. 59.
Nobody loves life like an old man.
Acrisius. Frag. 63.
A short saying oft contains much wisdom.[697:1]
Aletes. Frag. 99.
Do nothing secretly; for Time sees and hears all things, and discloses all.
Hipponous. Frag. 280.
It is better not to live at all than to live disgraced.
Peleus. Frag. 445.
War loves to seek its victims in the young.
Scyrii. Frag. 507.
If it were possible to heal sorrow by weeping and to raise the dead with tears, gold were less prized than grief.
Scyrii. Frag. 510.
Children are the anchors that hold a mother to life.
Phædra. Frag. 619.
The truth is always the strongest argument.
Phædra. Frag. 737.
The dice of Zeus fall ever luckily.
Phædra. Frag. 809.
Fortune is not on the side of the faint-hearted.
Phædra. Frag. 842.
No oath too binding for a lover.
Phædra. Frag. 848.
Thoughts are mightier than strength of hand.
Phædra. Frag. 854.
A wise player ought to accept his throws and score them, not bewail his luck.
Phædra. Frag. 862.
If I am Sophocles, I am not mad; and if I am mad, I am not Sophocles.
Vit. Anon. p. 64 (Plumptre's Trans.).
Footnotes
EURIPIDES. 484-406 b. c.
Old men's prayers for death are lying prayers, in which they abuse old age and long extent of life. But when death draws near, not one is willing to die, and age no longer is a burden to them.
Alcestis. 669.
[698]
The gifts of a bad man bring no good with them.
Medea. 618.
Moderation, the noblest gift of Heaven.
Medea. 636.
I know, indeed, the evil of that I purpose; but my inclination gets the better of my judgment.[698:1]
Medea. 1078.
There is in the worst of fortune the best of chances for a happy change.[698:2]
Iphigenia in Tauris. 721.
Slowly but surely withal moveth the might of the gods.[698:3]
Bacchæ. 882.
Thou didst bring me forth for all the Greeks in common, not for thyself alone.
Iphigenia in Aulis. 1386.
Slight not what 's near through aiming at what 's far.[698:4]
Rhesus. 482.
The company of just and righteous men is better than wealth and a rich estate.
Ægeus. Frag. 7.
A bad beginning makes a bad ending.
Æolus. Frag. 32.
Time will explain it all. He is a talker, and needs no questioning before he speaks.
Æolus. Frag. 38.
Waste not fresh tears over old griefs.
Alexander. Frag. 44.
The nobly born must nobly meet his fate.[698:5]
Alcmene. Frag. 100.
Woman is woman's natural ally.
Alope. Frag. 109.
Man's best possession is a sympathetic wife.
Antigone. Frag. 164.
Ignorance of one's misfortunes is clear gain.[698:6]
Antiope. Frag. 204.
[699]
Try first thyself, and after call in God; For to the worker God himself lends aid.[699:1] Hippolytus. Frag. 435.
Second thoughts are ever wiser.[699:2]
Hippolytus. Frag. 436.
Toil, says the proverb, is the sire of fame.
Licymnius. Frag. 477.
Cowards do not count in battle; they are there, but not in it.
Meleager. Frag. 523.
A woman should be good for everything at home, but abroad good for nothing.
Meleager. Frag. 525.
Silver and gold are not the only coin; virtue too passes current all over the world.
Œdipus. Frag. 546.
When good men die their goodness does not perish, But lives though they are gone. As for the bad, All that was theirs dies and is buried with them. Temenidæ. Frag. 734.
Every man is like the company he is wont to keep.
Phœnix. Frag. 809.
Who knows but life be that which men call death,[699:3] And death what men call life?
Phrixus. Frag. 830.
Whoso neglects learning in his youth, loses the past and is dead for the future.
Phrixus. Frag. 927.
The gods visit the sins of the fathers upon the children.
Phrixus. Frag. 970.
Footnotes
MIMNERMUS (Tragedian).
We are all clever enough at envying a famous man while he is yet alive, and at praising him when he is dead.
Frag. 1.
[700]
HIPPOCRATES. 460-359 b. c.
Life is short and the art long.[700:1]
Aphorism i.
Extreme remedies are very appropriate for extreme diseases.[700:2]
Aphorism i.
Footnotes
For a desperate disease a desperate cure.—Montaigne: Chap. iii. The Custom of the Isle of Cea.
DIONYSIUS THE ELDER. 430-367 b. c.
Let thy speech be better than silence, or be silent.
Frag. 6.
PLAUTUS. 254(?)-184 b. c.
(Translated by Henry Thomas Riley, B. A., with a few variations. The references are to the text of Ritschl's second edition.[700:3])
What is yours is mine, and all mine is yours.[700:4]
Trinummus. Act ii. Sc. 2, 48. (329.)
Not by years but by disposition is wisdom acquired.
Trinummus. Act ii. Sc. 2, 88. (367.)
These things are not for the best, nor as I think they ought to be; but still they are better than that which is downright bad.
Trinummus. Act ii. Sc. 2, 111. (392.)
He whom the gods favour dies in youth.[700:5]
Bacchides. Act iv. Sc. 7, 18. (816.)
[701]
You are seeking a knot in a bulrush.[701:1]
Menæchmi. Act ii. Sc. 1, 22. (247.)
In the one hand he is carrying a stone, while he shows the bread in the other.[701:2]
Aulularia. Act ii. Sc. 2, 18. (195.)
I had a regular battle with the dunghill-cock.
Aulularia. Act iii. Sc. 4, 13. (472.)
It was not for nothing that the raven was just now croaking on my left hand.[701:3]
Aulularia. Act iv. Sc. 3, 1. (624.)
There are occasions when it is undoubtedly better to incur loss than to make gain.
Captivi. Act ii. Sc. 2, 77. (327.)
Patience is the best remedy for every trouble.[701:4]
Rudens. Act ii. Sc. 5, 71.
If you are wise, be wise; keep what goods the gods provide you.
Rudens. Act iv. Sc. 7, 3. (1229.)
Consider the little mouse, how sagacious an animal it is which never entrusts its life to one hole only.[701:5]
Truculentus. Act iv. Sc. 4, 15. (868.)
Nothing is there more friendly to a man than a friend in need.[701:6]
Epidicus. Act iii. Sc. 3, 44. (425.)
Things which you do not hope happen more frequently than things which you do hope.[701:7]
Mostellaria. Act i. Sc. 3, 40. (197.)
To blow and swallow at the same moment is not easy.
Mostellaria. Act iii. Sc. 2, 104. (791.)
Each man reaps on his own farm.
Mostellaria. Act iii. Sc. 2, 112. (799.)
Footnotes
[702]
TERENCE. 185-159 b. c.
(From the translation of Henry Thomas Riley, B. A., with occasional corrections. The references are to the text of Umpfenbach.[702:1])
Do not they bring it to pass by knowing that they know nothing at all?
Andria. The Prologue. 17.
Of surpassing beauty and in the bloom of youth.
Andria. Act i. Sc. 1, 45. (72.)
Hence these tears.
Andria. Act i. Sc. 1, 99. (126.)
That is a true proverb which is wont to be commonly quoted, that "all had rather it were well for themselves than for another."
Andria. Act ii. Sc. 5, 15. (426.)
The quarrels of lovers are the renewal of love.[702:2]
Andria. Act iii. Sc. 3, 23. (555.)
Look you, I am the most concerned in my own interests.[702:3]
Andria. Act iv. Sc. 1, 12. (636.)
In fine, nothing is said now that has not been said before.
Eunuchus. The Prologue. 41.
It is up with you; all is over; you are ruined.
Eunuchus. Act i. Sc. 1, 9. (54.)
If I could believe that this was said sincerely, I could put up with anything.
Eunuchus. Act i. Sc. 2, 96. (176.)
Immortal gods! how much does one man excel another! What a difference there is between a wise person and a fool!
Eunuchus. Act ii. Sc. 2, 1. (232.)
I have everything, yet have nothing; and although I possess nothing, still of nothing am I in want.[702:4]
Eunuchus. Act ii. Sc. 2, 12. (243.)
[703]
There are vicissitudes in all things.
Eunuchus. Act ii. Sc. 2, 45. (276.)
The very flower of youth.
Eunuchus. Act ii. Sc. 3, 28. (319.)
I did not care one straw.
Eunuchus. Act iii. Sc. 1, 21. (411.)
Jupiter, now assuredly is the time when I could readily consent to be slain,[703:1] lest life should sully this ecstasy with some disaster.
Eunuchus. Act iii. Sc. 5, 2. (550.)
This and a great deal more like it I have had to put up with.
Eunuchus. Act iv. Sc. 6, 8. (746.)
Take care and say this with presence of mind.[703:2]
Eunuchus. Act iv. Sc. 6, 31. (769.)
It behooves a prudent person to make trial of everything before arms.
Eunuchus. Act iv. Sc. 7, 19. (789.)
I know the disposition of women: when you will, they won't; when you won't, they set their hearts upon you of their own inclination.
Eunuchus. Act iv. Sc. 7, 42. (812.)
I took to my heels as fast as I could.
Eunuchus. Act v. Sc. 2, 5. (844.)
Many a time, . . . from a bad beginning great friendships have sprung up.
Eunuchus. Act v. Sc. 2, 34. (873.)
I only wish I may see your head stroked down with a slipper.[703:3]
Eunuchus. Act v. Sc. 7, 4. (1028.)
I am a man, and nothing that concerns a man do I deem a matter of indifference to me.[703:4]
Heautontimoroumenos. Act i. Sc. 1, 25. (77.)
This is a wise maxim, "to take warning from others of what may be to your own advantage."
Heautontimoroumenos. Act i. Sc. 2, 36. (210.)
[704]
That saying which I hear commonly repeated,—that time assuages sorrow.
Heautontimoroumenos. Act iii. Sc. 1, 12. (421.)
Really, you have seen the old age of an eagle,[704:1] as the saying is.
Heautontimoroumenos. Act iii. Sc. 2, 9. (520.)
Many a time a man cannot be such as he would be, if circumstances do not admit of it.
Heautontimoroumenos. Act iv. Sc. 1, 53. (666.)
Nothing is so difficult but that it may be found out by seeking.
Heautontimoroumenos. Act iv. Sc. 2, 8. (675.)
What now if the sky were to fall?[704:2]
Heautontimoroumenos. Act iv. Sc. 3, 41. (719.)
Rigorous law is often rigorous injustice.[704:3]
Heautontimoroumenos. Act iv. Sc. 5, 48. (796.)
There is nothing so easy but that it becomes difficult when you do it with reluctance.
Heautontimoroumenos. Act iv. Sc. 6, 1. (805.)
How many things, both just and unjust, are sanctioned by custom!
Heautontimoroumenos. Act iv. Sc. 7, 11. (839.)
Fortune helps the brave.[704:4]
Phormio. Act i. Sc. 4, 25. (203.)
It is the duty of all persons, when affairs are the most prosperous,[704:5] then in especial to reflect within themselves in what way they are to endure adversity.
Phormio. Act ii. Sc. 1, 11. (241.)
As many men, so many minds; every one his own way.
Phormio. Act ii. Sc. 4, 14. (454.)
[705]
As the saying is, I have got a wolf by the ears.[705:1]
Phormio. Act iii. Sc. 2, 21. (506.)
I bid him look into the lives of men as though into a mirror, and from others to take an example for himself.
Adelphoe. Act iii. Sc. 3, 61. (415.)
According as the man is, so must you humour him.
Adelphoe. Act iii. Sc. 3, 77. (431.)
It is a maxim of old that among themselves all things are common to friends.[705:2]
Adelphoe. Act v. Sc. 3, 18. (803.)
What comes from this quarter, set it down as so much gain.
Adelphoe. Act v. Sc. 3, 30. (816.)
It is the common vice of all, in old age, to be too intent upon our interests.[705:3]
Adelphoe. Act v. Sc. 8, 30. (953.)
Footnotes
Some ambassadors from the Celtæ, being asked by Alexander what in the world they dreaded most, answered, that they feared lest the sky should fall upon them.—Arrianus: lib. i. 4.
Une extrême justice est souvent une injure (Extreme justice is often injustice).—Racine: Frères Ennemies, act iv. sc. 3.
Mais l'extrême justice est une extrême injure.—Voltaire: Œdipus, act iii. sc. 3.
CICERO. 106-43 b. c.
For as lack of adornment is said to become some women, so this subtle oration, though without embellishment, gives delight.[705:4]
De Oratore. 78.
Thus in the beginning the world was so made that certain signs come before certain events.[705:5]
De Divinatione. i. 118.
He is never less at leisure than when at leisure.[705:6]
De Officiis. iii. 1.
While the sick man has life there is hope.[705:7]
Epistolarum ad Atticum. ix. 10, 4.
Footnotes
[706]
LUCRETIUS. 95-55 b. c.
Continual dropping wears away a stone.[706:1]
De Rerum Natura. i. 313.
What is food to one man may be fierce poison to others.[706:2]
De Rerum Natura. iv. 637.
In the midst of the fountain of wit there arises something bitter, which stings in the very flowers.[706:3]
De Rerum Natura. iv. 1133.
Footnotes
HORACE. 65-8 b. c.
Brave men were living before Agamemnon.[706:4]
Odes. iv. 9, 25.
In peace, as a wise man, he should make suitable preparation for war.[706:5]
Satires, ii. 2. (111.)
You may see me, fat and shining, with well-cared-for hide, . . . a hog from Epicurus's herd.[706:6]
Satires, ii. 4, 15.
What the discordant harmony of circumstances would and could effect.[706:7]
Epistles, i. 12, 19.
If you wish me to weep, you yourself must feel grief.[706:8]
Ars Poetica. 102.
The mountains will be in labour; an absurd mouse will be born.[706:9]
Ars Poetica. 139.
Even the worthy Homer sometimes nods.[706:10]
Ars Poetica. 359.
Footnotes
The old proverb was now made good: "The mountain had brought forth a mouse."—Plutarch: Life of Agesilaus II.
[707]
OVID. 43 b. c.-18 a. d.
They come to see; they come that they themselves may be seen.[707:1]
The Art of Love. i. 99.
Nothing is stronger than custom.
The Art of Love. ii. 345.
Then the omnipotent Father with his thunder made Olympus tremble, and from Ossa hurled Pelion.[707:2]
Metamorphoses. i.
It is the mind that makes the man, and our vigour is in our immortal soul.[707:3]
Metamorphoses. xiii.
The mind, conscious of rectitude, laughed to scorn the falsehood of report.[707:4]
Fasti. iv. 311.
Footnotes
I would have you call to mind the strength of the ancient giants, that undertook to lay the high mountain Pelion on the top of Ossa, and set among those the shady Olympus.—Rabelais: Works, book iv. chap. xxxviii.
OF UNKNOWN AUTHORSHIP.
Love thyself, and many will hate thee.
Frag. 146.
Practice in time becomes second nature.[707:5]
Frag. 227.
When God is planning ruin for a man, He first deprives him of his reason.[707:6]
Frag. 379.
When I am dead let fire destroy the world; It matters not to me, for I am safe. Frag. 430.
Toil does not come to help the idle.
Frag. 440.
Footnotes
This may have been the original of the well known (but probably post-classical) line, "Quem Jupiter vult perdere, dementat prius." Publius Syrus has, "Stultum facit fortuna quem vult perdere."
[708]
PUBLIUS SYRUS.[708:1] 42 b. c.
(Translation by Darius Lyman. The numbers are those of the translator.)
As men, we are all equal in the presence of death.
Maxim 1.
To do two things at once is to do neither.
Maxim 7.
We are interested in others when they are interested in us.[708:2]
Maxim 16.
Every one excels in something in which another fails.
Maxim 17.
The anger of lovers renews the strength of love.[708:3]
Maxim 24.
A god could hardly love and be wise.[708:4]
Maxim 25.
The loss which is unknown is no loss at all.[708:5]
Maxim 38.
He sleeps well who knows not that he sleeps ill.
Maxim 77.
A good reputation is more valuable than money.[708:6]
Maxim 108.
It is well to moor your bark with two anchors.
Maxim 119.
Learn to see in another's calamity the ills which you should avoid.[708:7]
Maxim 120.
An agreeable companion on a journey is as good as a carriage.
Maxim 143.
Society in shipwreck is a comfort to all.[708:8]
Maxim 144.
Many receive advice, few profit by it.
Maxim 149.
[709]
Patience is a remedy for every sorrow.[709:1]
Maxim 170.
While we stop to think, we often miss our opportunity.
Maxim 185.
Whatever you can lose, you should reckon of no account.
Maxim 191.
Even a single hair casts its shadow.
Maxim 228.
It is sometimes expedient to forget who we are.
Maxim 233.
We may with advantage at times forget what we know.
Maxim 234.
You should hammer your iron when it is glowing hot.[709:2]
Maxim 262.
What is left when honour is lost?
Maxim 265.
A fair exterior is a silent recommendation.
Maxim 267.
Fortune is not satisfied with inflicting one calamity.
Maxim 274.
When Fortune is on our side, popular favour bears her company.
Maxim 275.
When Fortune flatters, she does it to betray.
Maxim 277.
Fortune is like glass,—the brighter the glitter, the more easily broken.
Maxim 280.
It is more easy to get a favour from fortune than to keep it.
Maxim 282.
His own character is the arbiter of every one's fortune.[709:3]
Maxim 283.
There are some remedies worse than the disease.[709:4]
Maxim 301.
Powerful indeed is the empire of habit.[709:5]
Maxim 305.
Amid a multitude of projects, no plan is devised.[709:6]
Maxim 319.
[710]
It is easy for men to talk one thing and think another.
Maxim 322.
When two do the same thing, it is not the same thing after all.
Maxim 338.
A cock has great influence on his own dunghill.[710:1]
Maxim 357.
Any one can hold the helm when the sea is calm.[710:2]
Maxim 358.
No tears are shed when an enemy dies.
Maxim 376.
The bow too tensely strung is easily broken.
Maxim 388.
Treat your friend as if he might become an enemy.
Maxim 401.
No pleasure endures unseasoned by variety.[710:3]
Maxim 406.
The judge is condemned when the criminal is acquitted.[710:4]
Maxim 407.
Practice is the best of all instructors.[710:5]
Maxim 439.
He who is bent on doing evil can never want occasion.
Maxim 459.
One man's wickedness may easily become all men's curse.
Maxim 463.
Never find your delight in another's misfortune.
Maxim 467.
It is a bad plan that admits of no modification.
Maxim 469.
It is better to have a little than nothing.
Maxim 484.
It is an unhappy lot which finds no enemies.
Maxim 499.
[711]
The fear of death is more to be dreaded than death itself.[711:1]
Maxim 511.
A rolling stone gathers no moss.[711:2]
Maxim 524.
Never promise more than you can perform.
Maxim 528.
A wise man never refuses anything to necessity.[711:3]
Maxim 540.
No one should be judge in his own cause.[711:4]
Maxim 545.
Necessity knows no law except to conquer.[711:5]
Maxim 553.
Nothing can be done at once hastily and prudently.[711:6]
Maxim 557.
We desire nothing so much as what we ought not to have.
Maxim 559.
It is only the ignorant who despise education.
Maxim 571.
Do not turn back when you are just at the goal.[711:7]
Maxim 580.
It is not every question that deserves an answer.
Maxim 581.
No man is happy who does not think himself so.[711:8]
Maxim 584.
Never thrust your own sickle into another's corn.[711:9]
Maxim 593.
You cannot put the same shoe on every foot.
Maxim 596.
[712]
He bids fair to grow wise who has discovered that he is not so.
Maxim 598.
A guilty conscience never feels secure.[712:1]
Maxim 617.
Every day should be passed as if it were to be our last.[712:2]
Maxim 633.
Familiarity breeds contempt.[712:3]
Maxim 640.
Money alone sets all the world in motion.
Maxim 656.
He who has plenty of pepper will pepper his cabbage.
Maxim 673.
You should go to a pear-tree for pears, not to an elm.[712:4]
Maxim 674.
It is a very hard undertaking to seek to please everybody.
Maxim 675.
We should provide in peace what we need in war.[712:5]
Maxim 709.
Look for a tough wedge for a tough log.
Maxim 723.
How happy the life unembarrassed by the cares of business!
Maxim 725.
They who plough the sea do not carry the winds in their hands.[712:6]
Maxim 759.
He gets through too late who goes too fast.
Maxim 767.
In every enterprise consider where you would come out.[712:7]
Maxim 777.
[713]
It takes a long time to bring excellence to maturity.
Maxim 780.
The highest condition takes rise in the lowest.
Maxim 781.
It matters not what you are thought to be, but what you are.
Maxim 785.
No one knows what he can do till he tries.
Maxim 786.
The next day is never so good as the day before.
Maxim 815.
He is truly wise who gains wisdom from another's mishap.
Maxim 825.
Good health and good sense are two of life's greatest blessings.
Maxim 827.
It matters not how long you live, but how well.
Maxim 829.
It is vain to look for a defence against lightning.[713:1]
Maxim 835.
No good man ever grew rich all at once.[713:2]
Maxim 837.
Everything is worth what its purchaser will pay for it.[713:3]
Maxim 847.
It is better to learn late than never.[713:4]
Maxim 864.
Better be ignorant of a matter than half know it.[713:5]
Maxim 865.
Better use medicines at the outset than at the last moment.
Maxim 866.
Prosperity makes friends, adversity tries them.
Maxim 872.
Whom Fortune wishes to destroy she first makes mad.[713:6]
Maxim 911.
Let a fool hold his tongue and he will pass for a sage.
Maxim 914.
He knows not when to be silent who knows not when to speak.
Maxim 930.
[714]
You need not hang up the ivy-branch over the wine that will sell.[714:1]
Maxim 968.
It is a consolation to the wretched to have companions in misery.[714:2]
Maxim 995.
Unless degree is preserved, the first place is safe for no one.[714:3]
Maxim 1042.
Confession of our faults is the next thing to innocency.
Maxim 1060.
I have often regretted my speech, never my silence.[714:4]
Maxim 1070.
Keep the golden mean[714:5] between saying too much and too little.
Maxim 1072.
Speech is a mirror of the soul: as a man speaks, so is he.
Maxim 1073.
Footnotes
Marius said, "I see the cure is not worth the pain."—Plutarch: Life of Caius Marius.
Not presuming to put my sickle in another man's corn.—Nicholas Yonge: Musica Transalpini. Epistle Dedicatory. 1588.
SENECA. 8 b. c.-65 a. d.
Not lost, but gone before.[714:6]
Epistolæ. 63, 16.
Whom they have injured they also hate.[714:7]
De Ira. ii. 33.
Fire is the test of gold; adversity, of strong men.[714:8]
De Providentia. 5, 9.
There is no great genius without a tincture of madness.[714:9]
De Tranquillitate Animi. 17.
Do you seek Alcides' equal? None is, except himself.[714:10]
Hercules Furens. i. 1, 84.
[715]
Successful and fortunate crime is called virtue.[715:1]
Hercules Furens. 255.
A good man possesses a kingdom.[715:2]
Thyestes. 380.
I do not distinguish by the eye, but by the mind, which is the proper judge of the man.[715:3]
On a Happy Life. 2. (L' Estrange's Abstract, Chap. i.)
Footnotes
PHÆDRUS. 8 a. d.
(Translation by H. T. Riley, B. A.[715:4])
Submit to the present evil, lest a greater one befall you.
Book i. Fable 2, 31.
He who covets what belongs to another deservedly loses his own.
Book i. Fable 4, 1.
That it is unwise to be heedless ourselves while we are giving advice to others, I will show in a few lines.
Book i. Fable 9, 1.
Whoever has even once become notorious by base fraud, even if he speaks the truth, gains no belief.
Book i. Fable 10, 1.
By this story [The Fox and the Raven] it is shown how much ingenuity avails, and how wisdom is always an overmatch for strength.
Book i. Fable 13, 13.
No one returns with good-will to the place which has done him a mischief.
Book i. Fable 18, 1.
It has been related that dogs drink at the river Nile running along, that they may not be seized by the crocodiles.[715:5]
Book i. Fable 25, 3.
[716]
Every one is bound to bear patiently the results of his own example.
Book i. Fable 26, 12.
Come of it what may, as Sinon said.
Book iii. The Prologue, 27.
Things are not always what they seem.[716:1]
Book iv. Fable 2, 5.
Jupiter has loaded us with a couple of wallets: the one, filled with our own vices, he has placed at our backs; the other, heavy with those of others, he has hung before.[716:2]
Book iv. Fable 10, 1.
A mountain was in labour, sending forth dreadful groans, and there was in the region the highest expectation. After all, it brought forth a mouse.[716:3]
Book iv. Fable 23, 1.
A fly bit the bare pate of a bald man, who in endeavouring to crush it gave himself a hard slap. Then said the fly jeeringly, "You wanted to revenge the sting of a tiny insect with death; what will you do to yourself, who have added insult to injury?"
Book v. Fable 3, 1.
"I knew that before you were born." Let him who would instruct a wiser man consider this as said to himself.
Book v. Fable 9, 4.
Footnotes
PLINY THE ELDER. 23-79 a. d.
(Translation by J. Bostock, M. D., and H. T. Riley, B. A., with slight alterations.[716:4])
In comparing various authors with one another, I have discovered that some of the gravest and latest writers have transcribed, word for word, from former works, without making acknowledgment.
Natural History. Book i. Dedication, Sect. 22.
[717]
The world, and whatever that be which we call the heavens, by the vault of which all things are enclosed, we must conceive to be a deity, to be eternal, without bounds, neither created nor subject at any time to destruction. To inquire what is beyond it is no concern of man; nor can the human mind form any conjecture concerning it.
Natural History. Book ii. Sect. 1.
It is ridiculous to suppose that the great head of things, whatever it be, pays any regard to human affairs.
Natural History. Book ii. Sect. 20.
Everything is soothed by oil, and this is the reason why divers send out small quantities of it from their mouths, because it smooths every part which is rough.[717:1]
Natural History. Book ii. Sect. 234.
It is far from easy to determine whether she [Nature] has proved to him a kind parent or a merciless stepmother.[717:2]
Natural History. Book vii. Sect. 1.
Man alone at the very moment of his birth, cast naked upon the naked earth, does she abandon to cries and lamentations.[717:3]
Natural History. Book vii. Sect. 2.
[718]
To laugh, if but for an instant only, has never been granted to man before the fortieth day from his birth, and then it is looked upon as a miracle of precocity.[718:1]
Natural History, Book vii. Sect. 2.
Man is the only one that knows nothing, that can learn nothing without being taught. He can neither speak nor walk nor eat, and in short he can do nothing at the prompting of nature only, but weep.[718:2]
Natural History, Book vii. Sect. 4.
With man, most of his misfortunes are occasioned by man.[718:3]
Natural History, Book vii. Sect. 5.
Indeed, what is there that does not appear marvellous when it comes to our knowledge for the first time?[718:4] How many things, too, are looked upon as quite impossible until they have been actually effected?
Natural History, Book vii. Sect. 6.
The human features and countenance, although composed of but some ten parts or little more, are so fashioned that among so many thousands of men there are no two in existence who cannot be distinguished from one another.[718:5]
Natural History, Book vii. Sect. 8.
All men possess in their bodies a poison which acts upon serpents; and the human saliva, it is said, makes them take to flight, as though they had been touched with boiling water. The same substance, it is said, destroys them the moment it enters their throat.[718:6]
Natural History, Book vii. Sect. 15.
[719]
It has been observed that the height of a man from the crown of the head to the sole of the foot is equal to the distance between the tips of the middle fingers of the two hands when extended in a straight line.
Natural History. Book vii. Sect. 77.
When a building is about to fall down, all the mice desert it.[719:1]
Natural History. Book viii. Sect. 103.
Bears when first born are shapeless masses of white flesh a little larger than mice, their claws alone being prominent. The mother then licks them gradually into proper shape.[719:2]
Natural History. Book viii. Sect. 126.
It is asserted that the dogs keep running when they drink at the Nile, for fear of becoming a prey to the voracity of the crocodile.[719:3]
Natural History. Book viii. Sect. 148.
It has become quite a common proverb that in wine there is truth.[719:4]
Natural History. Book xiv. Sect. 141.
Cincinnatus was ploughing his four jugera of land upon the Vaticanian Hill,—the same that are still known as the Quintian Meadows,—when the messenger brought him the dictatorship, finding him, the tradition says, stripped to the work.
Natural History. Book xviii. Sect. 20.
The agricultural population, says Cato, produces the bravest men, the most valiant soldiers, and a class of citizens the least given of all to evil designs. . . . A bad bargain is always a ground for repentance.
Natural History. Book xviii. Sect. 26.
[720]
The best plan is, as the common proverb has it, to profit by the folly of others.[720:1]
Natural History. Book xviii. Sect. 31.
Always act in such a way as to secure the love of your neighbour.[720:2]
Natural History. Book xviii. Sect. 44.
It is a maxim universally agreed upon in agriculture, that nothing must be done too late; and again, that everything must be done at its proper season; while there is a third precept which reminds us that opportunities lost can never be regained.
Natural History. Book xviii. Sect. 44.
The bird of passage known to us as the cuckoo.
Natural History. Book xviii. Sect. 249.
Let not things, because they are common, enjoy for that the less share of our consideration.
Natural History. Book xix. Sect. 59.
Why is it that we entertain the belief that for every purpose odd numbers are the most effectual?[720:3]
Natural History. Book xxviii. Sect. 23.
It was a custom with Apelles, to which he most tenaciously adhered, never to let any day pass, however busy he might be, without exercising himself by tracing some outline or other,—a practice which has now passed into a proverb.[720:4] It was also a practice with him, when he had completed a work, to exhibit it to the view of the passers-by in his studio, while he himself, concealed behind the picture, would listen to the criticisms. . . . Under these circumstances, they say that he was censured by a shoemaker for having represented the shoes with one latchet too few. The next day, the shoemaker, quite proud at seeing the former error corrected, thanks [721]to his advice, began to criticise the leg; upon which Apelles, full of indignation, popped his head out and reminded him that a shoemaker should give no opinion beyond the shoes,[721:1]—a piece of advice which has equally passed into a proverbial saying.
Natural History. Book xxxv. Sect. 84.
Footnotes
The venerable Bede relates that Bishop Adain (a. d. 651) gave to a company about to take a journey by sea "some holy oil, saying, 'I know that when you go abroad you will meet with a storm and contrary wind; but do you remember to cast this oil I give you into the sea, and the wind shall cease immediately.'"—Ecclesiastical History, book iii. chap. xiv.
In Sparks's edition of Franklin's Works, vol. vi. p. 354, there are letters between Franklin, Brownrigg, and Parish on the stilling of waves by means of oil.
And when I was born I drew in the common air, and fell upon the earth, which is of like nature; and the first voice which I uttered was crying, as all others do.—The Wisdom of Solomon, vii. 3.
It was the custom among the ancients to place the new-born child upon the ground immediately after its birth.
Not unlike the bear which bringeth forth In the end of thirty dayes a shapeless birth; But after licking, it in shape she drawes, And by degrees she fashions out the pawes, The head, and neck, and finally doth bring To a perfect beast that first deformed thing. Du Bartas: Divine Weekes and Workes, first week, first day.
Numero deus impare gaudet (The god delights in odd numbers).—Virgil: Eclogæ, 8, 75.
The form generally quoted, "Nulla dies sine linea" (No day without a line), is not attested.
QUINTILIAN. 42-118 a. d.
We give to necessity the praise of virtue.[721:2]
Institutiones Oratoriæ, i. 8, 14.
A liar should have a good memory.[721:3]
Institutiones Oratoriæ, iv. 2, 91.
Vain hopes are often like the dreams of those who wake.[721:4]
Institutiones Oratoriæ, vi. 2, 30.
Those who wish to appear wise among fools, among the wise seem foolish.[721:5]
Institutiones Oratoriæ, x. 7, 21.
Footnotes
JUVENAL. 47-138 a. d.
No man ever became extremely wicked all at once.[721:6]
Satire ii. 83.
Grammarian, orator, geometrician; painter, gymnastic teacher, physician; fortune-teller, rope-dancer, conjuror,—he knew everything.[721:7]
Satire iii. 76.
Nobility is the one only virtue.[721:8]
Satire viii. 20.
Footnotes
[722]
MARTIAL. 40-102 a. d.
I do not love thee, Sabidius, nor can I say why; this only I can say, I do not love thee.[722:1]
Epigram i. 32.
The good man prolongs his life; to be able to enjoy one's past life is to live twice.[722:2]
Epigram x. 23, 7.
The bee enclosed and through the amber shown Seems buried in the juice which was his own.[722:3] Book iv. 32.
Neither fear, nor wish for, your last day.[722:4]
Book x. 47, 13.
Footnotes
PLUTARCH. 46(?)-120(?) a. d.
(From Dryden's translation of Plutarch's Lives, corrected and revised by A. H. Clough.)
As geographers, Sosius, crowd into the edges of their maps parts of the world which they do not know about, adding notes in the margin to the effect that beyond this lies nothing but sandy deserts full of wild beasts, and unapproachable bogs.[722:5]
Life of Theseus.
From Themistocles began the saying, "He is a second Hercules."
Life of Theseus.
The most perfect soul, says Heraclitus, is a dry light, which flies out of the body as lightning breaks from a cloud.
Life of Romulus.
Anacharsis coming to Athens, knocked at Solon's door, and told him that he, being a stranger, was come to be his guest, and contract a friendship with him; and Solon replying, "It is better to make friends at home," Anacharsis replied, "Then you that are at home make friendship with me."
Life of Solon.
[723]
Themistocles said that he certainly could not make use of any stringed instrument; could only, were a small and obscure city put into his hands, make it great and glorious.
Life of Themistocles.
Eurybiades lifting up his staff as if he were going to strike, Themistocles said, "Strike, if you will; but hear."[723:1]
Life of Themistocles.
Themistocles said to Antiphales, "Time, young man, has taught us both a lesson."
Life of Themistocles.
Laughing at his own son, who got his mother, and by his mother's means his father also, to indulge him, he told him that he had the most power of any one in Greece: "For the Athenians command the rest of Greece, I command the Athenians, your mother commands me, and you command your mother."[723:2]
Life of Themistocles.
"You speak truth," said Themistocles; "I should never have been famous if I had been of Seriphus;[723:3] nor you, had you been of Athens."
Life of Themistocles.
Themistocles said that a man's discourse was like to a rich Persian carpet, the beautiful figures and patterns of which can be shown only by spreading and extending it out; when it is contracted and folded up, they are obscured and lost.[723:4]
Life of Themistocles.
[724]
When he was in great prosperity, and courted by many, seeing himself splendidly served at his table, he turned to his children and said: "Children, we had been undone, if we had not been undone."
Life of Themistocles.
Moral good is a practical stimulus; it is no sooner seen than it inspires an impulse to practise.
Life of Pericles.
For ease and speed in doing a thing do not give the work lasting solidity or exactness of beauty.[724:1]
Life of Pericles.
So very difficult a matter is it to trace and find out the truth of anything by history.
Life of Pericles.
Be ruled by time, the wisest counsellor of all.
Life of Pericles.
To conduct great matters and never commit a fault is above the force of human nature.
Life of Fabius.
Menenius Agrippa concluded at length with the celebrated fable: "It once happened that all the other members of a man mutinied against the stomach, which they accused as the only idle, uncontributing part in the whole body, while the rest were put to hardships and the expense of much labour to supply and minister to its appetites."
Life of Coriolanus.
Knowledge of divine things for the most part, as Heraclitus says, is lost to us by incredulity.
Life of Coriolanus.
A Roman divorced from his wife, being highly blamed by his friends, who demanded, "Was she not chaste? Was she not fair? Was she not fruitful?" holding out his shoe, asked them whether it was not new and well made. "Yet," added he, "none of you can tell where it pinches me."
Life of Æmilius Paulus.
The saying of old Antigonus, who when he was to fight at Andros, and one told him, "The enemy's ships [725]are more than ours," replied, "For how many then wilt thou reckon me?"[725:1]
Life of Pelopidas.
Archimedes had stated, that given the force, any given weight might be moved; and even boasted that if there were another earth, by going into it he could remove this.
Life of Marcellus.
It is a difficult task, O citizens, to make speeches to the belly, which has no ears.[725:2]
Life of Marcus Cato.
Cato used to assert that wise men profited more by fools than fools by wise men; for that wise men avoided the faults of fools, but that fools would not imitate the good examples of wise men.
Life of Marcus Cato.
He said that in his whole life he most repented of three things: one was that he had trusted a secret to a woman; another, that he went by water when he might have gone by land; the third, that he had remained one whole day without doing any business of moment.
Life of Marcus Cato.
Marius said, "I see the cure is not worth the pain."[725:3]
Life of Caius Marius.
Extraordinary rains pretty generally fall after great battles.[725:4]
Life of Caius Marius.
Lysander said that the law spoke too softly to be heard in such a noise of war.
Life of Caius Marius.
As it is in the proverb, played Cretan against Cretan.[725:5]
Life of Lysander.
Did you not know, then, that to-day Lucullus sups with Lucullus?
Life of Lucullus.
[726]
It is no great wonder if in long process of time, while fortune takes her course hither and thither, numerous coincidences should spontaneously occur. If the number and variety of subjects to be wrought upon be infinite, it is all the more easy for fortune, with such an abundance of material, to effect this similarity of results.[726:1]
Life of Sertorius.
Perseverance is more prevailing than violence; and many things which cannot be overcome when they are together, yield themselves up when taken little by little.
Life of Sertorius.
Agesilaus being invited once to hear a man who admirably imitated the nightingale, he declined, saying he had heard the nightingale itself.[726:2]
Life of Agesilaus II.
It is circumstance and proper measure that give an action its character, and make it either good or bad.
Life of Agesilaus II.
The old proverb was now made good, "the mountain had brought forth a mouse."[726:3]
Life of Agesilaus II.
Pompey bade Sylla recollect that more worshipped the rising than the setting sun.[726:4]
Life of Pompey.
[727]
When some were saying that if Cæsar should march against the city they could not see what forces there were to resist him, Pompey replied with a smile, bidding them be in no concern, "for whenever I stamp my foot in any part of Italy there will rise up forces enough in an instant, both horse and foot."
Life of Pompey.
The most glorious exploits do not always furnish us with the clearest discoveries of virtue or vice in men.
Life of Alexander.
Whenever Alexander heard Philip had taken any town of importance, or won any signal victory, instead of rejoicing at it altogether, he would tell his companions that his father would anticipate everything, and leave him and them no opportunities of performing great and illustrious actions.[727:1]
Life of Alexander.
Alexander said, "I assure you I had rather excel others in the knowledge of what is excellent, than in the extent of my power and dominion."
Life of Alexander.
When Alexander asked Diogenes whether he wanted anything, "Yes," said he, "I would have you stand from between me and the sun."
Life of Alexander.
When asked why he parted with his wife, Cæsar replied, "I wished my wife to be not so much as suspected."[727:2]
Life of Cæsar.
For my part, I had rather be the first man among these fellows than the second man in Rome.[727:3]
Life of Cæsar.
Using the proverb frequently in their mouths who enter upon dangerous and bold attempts, "The die is cast," he took the river.[727:4]
Life of Cæsar.
[728]
"And this," said Cæsar, "you know, young man, is more disagreeable for me to say than to do."[728:1]
Life of Cæsar.
Go on, my friend, and fear nothing; you carry Cæsar and his fortunes in your boat.[728:2]
Life of Cæsar.
Cæsar said to the soothsayer, "The ides of March are come;" who answered him calmly, "Yes, they are come, but they are not past."[728:3]
Life of Cæsar.
Even a nod from a person who is esteemed is of more force than a thousand arguments or studied sentences from others.
Life of Phocion.
Demosthenes told Phocion, "The Athenians will kill you some day when they once are in a rage." "And you," said he, "if they are once in their senses."[728:4]
Life of Phocion.
Pythias once, scoffing at Demosthenes, said that his arguments smelt of the lamp.
Life of Demosthenes.
Demosthenes overcame and rendered more distinct his inarticulate and stammering pronunciation by speaking with pebbles in his mouth.
Life of Demosthenes.
In his house he had a large looking-glass, before which he would stand and go through his exercises.
Life of Demosthenes.
Cicero called Aristotle a river of flowing gold, and said of Plato's Dialogues, that if Jupiter were to speak, it would be in language like theirs.
Life of Cicero.
(From Plutarch's Morals. Translated by several hands; corrected and revised by W. W. Goodwin, Ph.D., Harvard University.)
For water continually dropping will wear hard rocks hollow.[728:5]
Of the Training of Children.
[729]
It is a true proverb, that if you live with a lame man you will learn to halt.
Of the Training of Children.
The very spring and root of honesty and virtue lie in the felicity of lighting on good education.
Of the Training of Children.
It is indeed a desirable thing to be well descended, but the glory belongs to our ancestors.
Of the Training of Children.
According to the proverb, the best things are the most difficult.
Of the Training of Children.
To sing the same tune, as the saying is, is in everything cloying and offensive; but men are generally pleased with variety.
Of the Training of Children.
Children are to be won to follow liberal studies by exhortations and rational motives, and on no account to be forced thereto by whipping.
Of the Training of Children.
Nothing made the horse so fat as the king's eye.
Of the Training of Children.
Democritus said, words are but the shadows of actions.
Of the Training of Children.
'T is a wise saying, Drive on your own track.
Of the Training of Children.
It is a point of wisdom to be silent when occasion requires, and better than to speak, though never so well.
Of the Training of Children.
Eat not thy heart; which forbids to afflict our souls, and waste them with vexatious cares.[729:1]
Of the Training of Children.
Abstain from beans; that is, keep out of public offices, for anciently the choice of the officers of state was made by beans.
Of the Training of Children.
When men are arrived at the goal, they should not turn back.[729:2]
Of the Training of Children.
The whole life of man is but a point of time; let us enjoy it, therefore, while it lasts, and not spend it to no purpose.
Of the Training of Children.
An old doting fool, with one foot already in the grave.[729:3]
Of the Training of Children.
[730]
Xenophanes said, "I confess myself the greatest coward in the world, for I dare not do an ill thing."
Of Bashfulness.
One made the observation of the people of Asia that they were all slaves to one man, merely because they could not pronounce that syllable No.
Of Bashfulness.
Euripides was wont to say, "Silence is an answer to a wise man."
Of Bashfulness.
Zeno first started that doctrine that knavery is the best defence against a knave.[730:1]
Of Bashfulness.
Alexander wept when he heard from Anaxarchus that there was an infinite number of worlds; and his friends asking him if any accident had befallen him, he returns this answer: "Do you not think it a matter worthy of lamentation that when there is such a vast multitude of them, we have not yet conquered one?"
On the Tranquillity of the Mind.
Like the man who threw a stone at a bitch, but hit his step-mother, on which he exclaimed, "Not so bad!"
On the Tranquillity of the Mind.
Pittacus said, "Every one of you hath his particular plague, and my wife is mine; and he is very happy who hath this only."
On the Tranquillity of the Mind.
He was a man, which, as Plato saith, is a very inconstant creature.[730:2]
On the Tranquillity of the Mind.
The pilot cannot mitigate the billows or calm the winds.[730:3]
On the Tranquillity of the Mind.
I, for my own part, had much rather people should say of me that there neither is nor ever was such a man as Plutarch, than that they should say, "Plutarch is an unsteady, fickle, froward, vindictive, and touchy fellow."
Of Superstition.
[731]
Scilurus on his death-bed, being about to leave fourscore sons surviving, offered a bundle of darts to each of them, and bade them break them. When all refused, drawing out one by one, he easily broke them,—thus teaching them that if they held together, they would continue strong; but if they fell out and were divided, they would become weak.
Apophthegms of Kings and Great Commanders.[731:1] Scilurus.
Dionysius the Elder, being asked whether he was at leisure, he replied, "God forbid that it should ever befall me!"
Apophthegms of Kings and Great Commanders. Dionysius.
A prating barber asked Archelaus how he would be trimmed. He answered, "In silence."
Apophthegms of Kings and Great Commanders. Archelaus.
When Philip had news brought him of divers and eminent successes in one day, "O Fortune!" said he, "for all these so great kindnesses do me some small mischief."
Apophthegms of Kings and Great Commanders. Philip.
There were two brothers called Both and Either; perceiving Either was a good, understanding, busy fellow, and Both a silly fellow and good for little, Philip said, "Either is both, and Both is neither."
Apophthegms of Kings and Great Commanders. Philip.
Philip being arbitrator betwixt two wicked persons, he commanded one to fly out of Macedonia and the other to pursue him.
Apophthegms of Kings and Great Commanders. Philip.
Being about to pitch his camp in a likely place, and hearing there was no hay to be had for the cattle, "What a life," said he, "is ours, since we must live according to the convenience of asses!"
Apophthegms of Kings and Great Commanders. Philip.
"These Macedonians," said he, "are a rude and clownish people, that call a spade a spade."[731:2]
Apophthegms of Kings and Great Commanders. Philip.
[732]
He made one of Antipater's recommendation a judge; and perceiving afterwards that his hair and beard were coloured, he removed him, saying, "I could not think one that was faithless in his hair could be trusty in his deeds."
Apophthegms of Kings and Great Commanders. Philip.
Being nimble and light-footed, his father encouraged him to run in the Olympic race. "Yes," said he, "if there were any kings there to run with me."
Apophthegms of Kings and Great Commanders. Alexander.
When Darius offered him ten thousand talents, and to divide Asia equally with him, "I would accept it," said Parmenio, "were I Alexander." "And so truly would I," said Alexander, "if I were Parmenio." But he answered Darius that the earth could not bear two suns, nor Asia two kings.
Apophthegms of Kings and Great Commanders. Alexander.
When he was wounded with an arrow in the ankle, and many ran to him that were wont to call him a god, he said smiling, "That is blood, as you see, and not, as Homer saith, 'such humour as distils from blessed gods.'"
Apophthegms of Kings and Great Commanders. Alexander.
Aristodemus, a friend of Antigonus, supposed to be a cook's son, advised him to moderate his gifts and expenses. "Thy words," said he, "Aristodemus, smell of the apron."
Apophthegms of Kings and Great Commanders. Antigonus I.
Thrasyllus the Cynic begged a drachm of Antigonus. "That," said he, "is too little for a king to give." "Why, then," said the other, "give me a talent." "And that," said he, "is too much for a Cynic (or, for a dog) to receive."
Apophthegms of Kings and Great Commanders. Antigonus I.
Antagoras the poet was boiling a conger, and Antigonus, coming behind him as he was stirring his skillet, said, "Do you think, Antagoras, that Homer boiled congers when he wrote the deeds of Agamemnon?" Antagoras replied, "Do you think, O king, that Agamemnon, when he did such exploits, was a peeping in his army to see who boiled congers?"
Apophthegms of Kings and Great Commanders. Antigonus I.
[733]
Pyrrhus said, "If I should overcome the Romans in another fight, I were undone."
Apophthegms of Kings and Great Commanders. Pyrrhus.
Themistocles being asked whether he would rather be Achilles or Homer, said, "Which would you rather be,—a conqueror in the Olympic games, or the crier that proclaims who are conquerors?"
Apophthegms of Kings and Great Commanders. Themistocles.
He preferred an honest man that wooed his daughter, before a rich man. "I would rather," said Themistocles, "have a man that wants money than money that wants a man."
Apophthegms of Kings and Great Commanders. Themistocles.
Alcibiades had a very handsome dog, that cost him seven thousand drachmas; and he cut off his tail, "that," said he, "the Athenians may have this story to tell of me, and may concern themselves no further with me."
Apophthegms of Kings and Great Commanders. Alcibiades.
Being summoned by the Athenians out of Sicily to plead for his life, Alcibiades absconded, saying that that criminal was a fool who studied a defence when he might fly for it.
Apophthegms of Kings and Great Commanders. Alcibiades.
Lamachus chid a captain for a fault; and when he had said he would do so no more, "Sir," said he, "in war there is no room for a second miscarriage." Said one to Iphicrates, "What are ye afraid of?" "Of all speeches," said he, "none is so dishonourable for a general as 'I should not have thought of it.'"
Apophthegms of Kings and Great Commanders. Iphicrates.
To Harmodius, descended from the ancient Harmodius, when he reviled Iphicrates [a shoemaker's son] for his mean birth, "My nobility," said he, "begins in me, but yours ends in you."[733:1]
Apophthegms of Kings and Great Commanders. Iphicrates.
Once when Phocion had delivered an opinion which pleased the people, . . . he turned to his friend and said, "Have I not unawares spoken some mischievous thing or other?"
Apophthegms of Kings and Great Commanders. Phocion.
[734]
Phocion compared the speeches of Leosthenes to cypress-trees. "They are tall," said he, "and comely, but bear no fruit."
Apophthegms of Kings and Great Commanders. Phocion.
Lycurgus the Lacedæmonian brought long hair into fashion among his countrymen, saying that it rendered those that were handsome more beautiful, and those that were deformed more terrible. To one that advised him to set up a democracy in Sparta, "Pray," said Lycurgus, "do you first set up a democracy in your own house."
Apophthegms of Kings and Great Commanders. Lycurgus.
King Agis said, "The Lacedæmonians are not wont to ask how many, but where the enemy are."
Apophthegms of Kings and Great Commanders. Agis.
Lysander said, "Where the lion's skin will not reach, it must be pieced with the fox's."[734:1]
Apophthegms of Kings and Great Commanders. Lysander.
To one that promised to give him hardy cocks that would die fighting, "Prithee," said Cleomenes, "give me cocks that will kill fighting."
Apophthegms of Kings and Great Commanders. Cleomenes.
When Eudæmonidas heard a philosopher arguing that only a wise man can be a good general, "This is a wonderful speech," said he; "but he that saith it never heard the sound of trumpets."
Apophthegms of Kings and Great Commanders. Eudæmonidas.
A soldier told Pelopidas, "We are fallen among the enemies." Said he, "How are we fallen among them more than they among us?"
Apophthegms of Kings and Great Commanders. Pelopidas.
Cato the elder wondered how that city was preserved wherein a fish was sold for more than an ox.
Roman Apophthegms. Cato the Elder.
Cato instigated the magistrates to punish all offenders, saying that they that did not prevent crimes when they might, encouraged them.[734:2] Of young men, he liked them that blushed better than those who looked pale.
Roman Apophthegms. Cato the Elder.
[735]
Cato requested old men not to add the disgrace of wickedness to old age, which was accompanied with many other evils.
Roman Apophthegms. Cato the Elder.
He said they that were serious in ridiculous matters would be ridiculous in serious affairs.
Roman Apophthegms. Cato the Elder.
Cicero said loud-bawling orators were driven by their weakness to noise, as lame men to take horse.
Roman Apophthegms. Cicero.
After the battle in Pharsalia, when Pompey was fled, one Nonius said they had seven eagles left still, and advised to try what they would do. "Your advice," said Cicero, "were good if we were to fight jackdaws."
Roman Apophthegms. Cicero.
After he routed Pharnaces Ponticus at the first assault, he wrote thus to his friends: "I came, I saw, I conquered."[735:1]
Roman Apophthegms. Cæsar.
As Cæsar was at supper the discourse was of death,—which sort was the best. "That," said he, "which is unexpected."
Roman Apophthegms. Cæsar.
As Athenodorus was taking his leave of Cæsar, "Remember," said he, "Cæsar, whenever you are angry, to say or do nothing before you have repeated the four-and-twenty letters to yourself."
Roman Apophthegms. Cæsar Augustus.
"Young men," said Cæsar, "hear an old man to whom old men hearkened when he was young."
Roman Apophthegms. Cæsar Augustus.
Remember what Simonides said,—that he never repented that he had held his tongue, but often that he had spoken.[735:2]
Rules for the Preservation of Health. 7.
Custom is almost a second nature.[735:3]
Rules for the Preservation of Health. 18.
Epaminondas is reported wittily to have said of a good man that died about the time of the battle of Leuctra, "How came he to have so much leisure as to die, when there was so much stirring?"
Rules for the Preservation of Health. 25.
[736]
Have in readiness this saying of Solon, "But we will not give up our virtue in exchange for their wealth."
How to profit by our Enemies.
Socrates thought that if all our misfortunes were laid in one common heap, whence every one must take an equal portion, most persons would be contented to take their own and depart.
Consolation to Apollonius.
Diogenes the Cynic, when a little before his death he fell into a slumber, and his physician rousing him out of it asked him whether anything ailed him, wisely answered, "Nothing, sir; only one brother anticipates another,—Sleep before Death."
Consolation to Apollonius.
About Pontus there are some creatures of such an extempore being that the whole term of their life is confined within the space of a day; for they are brought forth in the morning, are in the prime of their existence at noon, grow old at night, and then die.
Consolation to Apollonius.
The measure of a man's life is the well spending of it, and not the length.
Consolation to Apollonius.
For many, as Cranton tells us, and those very wise men, not now but long ago, have deplored the condition of human nature, esteeming life a punishment, and to be born a man the highest pitch of calamity; this, Aristotle tells us, Silenus declared when he was brought captive to Midas.
Consolation to Apollonius.
There are two sentences inscribed upon the Delphic oracle, hugely accommodated to the usages of man's life: "Know thyself,"[736:1] and "Nothing too much;" and upon these all other precepts depend.
Consolation to Apollonius.
To one commending an orator for his skill in amplifying petty matters, Agesilaus said, "I do not think that [737]shoemaker a good workman that makes a great shoe for a little foot."
Laconic Apophthegms. Of Agesilaus the Great.
"I will show," said Agesilaus, "that it is not the places that grace men, but men the places."
Laconic Apophthegms. Of Agesilaus the Great.
When one asked him what boys should learn, "That," said he, "which they shall use when men."
Laconic Apophthegms. Of Agesilaus the Great.
Agesilaus was very fond of his children; and it is reported that once toying with them he got astride upon a reed as upon a horse, and rode about the room; and being seen by one of his friends, he desired him not to speak of it till he had children of his own.
Laconic Apophthegms. Of Agesilaus the Great.
When Demaratus was asked whether he held his tongue because he was a fool or for want of words, he replied, "A fool cannot hold his tongue."
Laconic Apophthegms. Of Demaratus.
Lysander, when Dionysius sent him two gowns, and bade him choose which he would carry to his daughter, said, "She can choose best," and so took both away with him.
Laconic Apophthegms. Of Lysander.
A physician, after he had felt the pulse of Pausanias, and considered his constitution, saying, "He ails nothing," "It is because, sir," he replied, "I use none of your physic."
Laconic Apophthegms. Of Pausanias the Son of Phistoanax.
And when the physician said, "Sir, you are an old man," "That happens," replied Pausanias, "because you never were my doctor."
Laconic Apophthegms. Of Pausanias the Son of Phistoanax.
When one told Plistarchus that a notorious railer spoke well of him, "I 'll lay my life," said he, "somebody hath told him I am dead, for he can speak well of no man living."
Laconic Apophthegms. Of Plistarchus.
Anacharsis said a man's felicity consists not in the outward and visible favours and blessings of Fortune, but in the inward and unseen perfections and riches of the mind.
The Banquet of the Seven Wise Men. 11.
[738]
Said Periander, "Hesiod might as well have kept his breath to cool his pottage."[738:1]
The Banquet of the Seven Wise Men. 14.
Socrates said, "Bad men live that they may eat and drink, whereas good men eat and drink that they may live."[738:2]
How a Young Man ought to hear Poems. 4.
And Archimedes, as he was washing, thought of a manner of computing the proportion of gold in King Hiero's crown by seeing the water flowing over the bathing-stool. He leaped up as one possessed or inspired, crying, "I have found it! Eureka!"
Pleasure not attainable according to Epicurus. 11.
Said Scopas of Thessaly, "We rich men count our felicity and happiness to lie in these superfluities, and not in those necessary things."[738:3]
Of the Love of Wealth.
That proverbial saying, "Ill news goes quick and far."
Of Inquisitiveness.
A traveller at Sparta, standing long upon one leg, said to a Lacedæmonian, "I do not believe you can do as much." "True," said he, "but every goose can."
Remarkable Speeches.
Spintharus, speaking in commendation of Epaminondas, says he scarce ever met with any man who knew more and spoke less.
Of Hearing. 6.
It is a thing of no great difficulty to raise objections against another man's oration,—nay, it is a very easy matter; but to produce a better in its place is a work extremely troublesome.
Of Hearing. 6.
Antiphanes said merrily, that in a certain city the cold was so intense that words were congealed as soon [739]as spoken, but that after some time they thawed and became audible; so that the words spoken in winter were articulated next summer.[739:1]
Of Man's Progress in Virtue.
As those persons who despair of ever being rich make little account of small expenses, thinking that little added to a little will never make any great sum.
Of Man's Progress in Virtue.
What is bigger than an elephant? But this also is become man's plaything, and a spectacle at public solemnities; and it learns to skip, dance, and kneel.
Of Fortune.
No man ever wetted clay and then left it, as if there would be bricks by chance and fortune.
Of Fortune.
Alexander was wont to say, "Were I not Alexander, I would be Diogenes."
Of the Fortune or Virtue of Alexander the Great.
When the candles are out all women are fair.[739:2]
Conjugal Precepts.
Like watermen, who look astern while they row the boat ahead.[739:3]
Whether 't was rightfully said, Live Concealed.
Socrates said he was not an Athenian or a Greek, but a citizen of the world.[739:4]
Of Banishment.
Anaximander says that men were first produced in fishes, and when they were grown up and able to help themselves were thrown up, and so lived upon the land.
Symposiacs. Book. viii. Question viii.
Athenodorus says hydrophobia, or water-dread, was first discovered in the time of Asclepiades.
Symposiacs. Book. viii. Question ix.
[740]
Let us not wonder if something happens which never was before, or if something doth not appear among us with which the ancients were acquainted.
Symposiacs. Book viii. Question ix.
Why does pouring oil on the sea make it clear and calm? Is it for that the winds, slipping the smooth oil, have no force, nor cause any waves?[740:1]
The great god Pan is dead.[740:2]
Why the Oracles cease to give Answers.
I am whatever was, or is, or will be; and my veil no mortal ever took up.[740:3]
Of Isis and Osiris.
When Hermodotus in his poems described Antigonus as the son of Helios, "My valet-de-chambre," said he, "is not aware of this."[740:4]
Of Isis and Osiris.
There is no debt with so much prejudice put off as that of justice.
Of those whom God is slow to punish.
It is a difficult thing for a man to resist the natural necessity of mortal passions.
Of those whom God is slow to punish.
He is a fool who lets slip a bird in the hand for a bird in the bush.[740:5]
Of Garrulity.
[741]
We are more sensible of what is done against custom than against Nature.
Of Eating of Flesh. Tract 1.
When Demosthenes was asked what was the first part of oratory, he answered, "Action;" and which was the second, he replied, "Action;" and which was the third, he still answered, "Action."
Lives of the Ten Orators.
Xenophon says that there is no sound more pleasing than one's own praises.
Whether an Aged Man ought to meddle in State Affairs.
Lampis, the sea commander, being asked how he got his wealth, answered, "My greatest estate I gained easily enough, but the smaller slowly and with much labour."
Whether an Aged Man ought to meddle in State Affairs.
The general himself ought to be such a one as can at the same time see both forward and backward.
Whether an Aged Man ought to meddle in State Affairs.
Statesmen are not only liable to give an account of what they say or do in public, but there is a busy inquiry made into their very meals, beds, marriages, and every other sportive or serious action.
Political Precepts.
Leo Byzantius said, "What would you do, if you saw my wife, who scarce reaches up to my knees? . . . Yet," went he on, "as little as we are, when we fall out with each other, the city of Byzantium is not big enough to hold us."
Political Precepts.
Cato said, "I had rather men should ask why my statue is not set up, than why it is."
Political Precepts.
It was the saying of Bion, that though the boys throw stones at frogs in sport, yet the frogs do not die in sport but in earnest.[741:1]
Which are the most crafty, Water or Land Animals? 7.
[742]
Both Empedocles and Heraclitus held it for a truth that man could not be altogether cleared from injustice in dealing with beasts as he now does.
Which are the most crafty, Water or Land Animals? 7.
For to err in opinion, though it be not the part of wise men, is at least human.[742:1]
Against Colotes.
Simonides calls painting silent poetry, and poetry speaking painting.
Whether the Athenians were more Warlike or Learned. 3.
As Meander says, "For our mind is God;" and as Heraclitus, "Man's genius is a deity."
Platonic Questions. i.
Pythagoras, when he was asked what time was, answered that it was the soul of this world.
Platonic Questions. viii. 4.
Footnotes
When the son of Themistocles was a little saucy toward his mother, he said that this boy had more power than all the Grecians; for the Athenians governed Greece, he the Athenians, his wife him, and his son his wife.—Apophthegms of Kings and Great Commanders. (Themistocles.)
I shall be content if those shall pronounce my History useful who desire to give a view of events as they did really happen, and as they are very likely, in accordance with human nature, to repeat themselves at some future time,—if not exactly the same, yet very similar.—Thucydides: Historia, i. 2, 2.
What is this day supported by precedents will hereafter become a precedent.—Ibid., Annals, xi. 24.
He [Tiberius] upbraided Macro in no obscure and indirect terms "with forsaking the setting sun and turning to the rising."—Tacitus: Annals, book iv. c. 47, 20.
Brought up like a rude Macedon, and taught to call a spade a spade.—Gosson: Ephemerides of Phialo (1579).
Plutarch ascribes this saying to Plato. It is also ascribed to Pythagoras, Chilo, Thales, Cleobulus, Bias, and Socrates; also to Phemonë, a mythical Greek poetess of the ante-Homeric period. Juvenal (Satire xi. 27) says that this precept descended from heaven.
He used to say that other men lived to eat, but that he ate to live.—Diogenes Laertius: Socrates, xiv.
Plutarch relates (Isis and Osiris) that a ship well laden with passengers drove with the tide near the Isles of Paxi, when a loud voice was heard by most of the passengers calling unto one Thanus. The voice then said aloud to him, "When you are arrived at Palodes, take care to make it known that the great god Pan is dead."
Few men have been admired by their domestics.—Montaigne: Essays, book iii. chap. 2.
This phrase, "No man is a hero to his valet," is commonly attributed to Madame de Sévigné, but on the authority of Madame Aissé (Letters, edited by Jules Ravenal, 1853) it really belongs to Madame Cornuel.
EPICTETUS. Circa 60 a. d.
(The translation used here is that of Thomas Wentworth Higginson, based on that of Elizabeth Carter (1866).)
To a reasonable creature, that alone is insupportable which is unreasonable; but everything reasonable may be supported.
Discourses. Chap. ii.
Yet God hath not only granted these faculties, by which we may bear every event without being depressed or broken by it, but like a good prince and a true father, hath placed their exercise above restraint, compulsion, or hindrance, and wholly without our own control.
Discourses. Chap. vi.
In a word, neither death, nor exile, nor pain, nor anything of this kind is the real cause of our doing or not doing any action, but our inward opinions and principles.
Discourses. Chap. xi.
[743]
Reason is not measured by size or height, but by principle.
Discourses. Chap. xii.
O slavish man! will you not bear with your own brother, who has God for his Father, as being a son from the same stock, and of the same high descent? But if you chance to be placed in some superior station, will you presently set yourself up for a tyrant?
Discourses. Chap. xiii.
When you have shut your doors, and darkened your room, remember never to say that you are alone, for you are not alone; but God is within, and your genius is within,—and what need have they of light to see what you are doing?
Discourses. Chap. xiv.
No great thing is created suddenly, any more than a bunch of grapes or a fig. If you tell me that you desire a fig, I answer you that there must be time. Let it first blossom, then bear fruit, then ripen.
Discourses. Chap. xv.
Any one thing in the creation is sufficient to demonstrate a Providence to an humble and grateful mind.
Discourses. Chap. xvi.
Were I a nightingale, I would act the part of a nightingale; were I a swan, the part of a swan.
Discourses. Chap. xvi.
Since it is Reason which shapes and regulates all other things, it ought not itself to be left in disorder.
Discourses. Chap. xvii.
If what the philosophers say be true,—that all men's actions proceed from one source; that as they assent from a persuasion that a thing is so, and dissent from a persuasion that it is not, and suspend their judgment from a persuasion that it is uncertain,—so likewise they seek a thing from a persuasion that it is for their advantage.
Discourses. Chap. xviii.
Practise yourself, for heaven's sake, in little things; and thence proceed to greater.
Discourses. Chap. xviii.
[744]
Every art and every faculty contemplates certain things as its principal objects.
Discourses. Chap. xx.
Why, then, do you walk as if you had swallowed a ramrod?
Discourses. Chap. xxi.
When one maintains his proper attitude in life, he does not long after externals. What would you have, O man?
Discourses. Chap. xxi.
Difficulties are things that show what men are.
Discourses. Chap. xxiv.
If we are not stupid or insincere when we say that the good or ill of man lies within his own will, and that all beside is nothing to us, why are we still troubled?
Discourses. Chap. xxv.
In theory there is nothing to hinder our following what we are taught; but in life there are many things to draw us aside.
Discourses. Chap. xxvi.
Appearances to the mind are of four kinds. Things either are what they appear to be; or they neither are, nor appear to be; or they are, and do not appear to be; or they are not, and yet appear to be. Rightly to aim in all these cases is the wise man's task.
Discourses. Chap. xxvii.
The appearance of things to the mind is the standard of every action to man.
That we ought not to be angry with Mankind. Chap. xxviii.
The essence of good and evil is a certain disposition of the will.
Of Courage. Chap. xxix.
It is not reasonings that are wanted now; for there are books stuffed full of stoical reasonings.
Of Courage. Chap. xxix.
For what constitutes a child?—Ignorance. What constitutes a child?—Want of instruction; for they are our equals so far as their degree of knowledge permits.
That Courage is not inconsistent with Caution. Book ii. Chap. i.
[745]
Appear to know only this,—never to fail nor fall.
That Courage is not inconsistent with Caution. Book ii. Chap. i.
The materials of action are variable, but the use we make of them should be constant.
How Nobleness of Mind may be consistent with Prudence. Chap. v.
Shall I show you the muscular training of a philosopher? "What muscles are those?"—A will undisappointed; evils avoided; powers daily exercised; careful resolutions; unerring decisions.
Wherein consists the Essence of Good. Chap. viii.
Dare to look up to God and say, "Make use of me for the future as Thou wilt. I am of the same mind; I am one with Thee. I refuse nothing which seems good to Thee. Lead me whither Thou wilt. Clothe me in whatever dress Thou wilt."
That we do not study to make Use of the established Principles concerning Good and Evil. Chap. xvi.
What is the first business of one who studies philosophy? To part with self-conceit. For it is impossible for any one to begin to learn what he thinks that he already knows.
How to apply general Principles to particular Cases. Chap. xvii.
Every habit and faculty is preserved and increased by correspondent actions,—as the habit of walking, by walking; of running, by running.
How the Semblances of Things are to be combated. Chap. xviii.
Whatever you would make habitual, practise it; and if you would not make a thing habitual, do not practise it, but habituate yourself to something else.
How the Semblances of Things are to be combated. Chap. xviii.
Reckon the days in which you have not been angry. I used to be angry every day; now every other day; then every third and fourth day; and if you miss it so long as thirty days, offer a sacrifice of thanksgiving to God.
How the Semblances of Things are to be combated. Chap. xviii.
[746]
Be not hurried away by excitement, but say, "Semblance, wait for me a little. Let me see what you are and what you represent. Let me try you."
How the Semblances of Things are to be combated. Chap. xviii.
Things true and evident must of necessity be recognized by those who would contradict them.
Concerning the Epicureans. Chap. xx.
There are some things which men confess with ease, and others with difficulty.
Of Inconsistency. Chap. xxi.
Who is there whom bright and agreeable children do not attract to play and creep and prattle with them?
Concerning a Person whom he treated with Disregard. Chap. xxiv.
Two rules we should always have ready,—that there is nothing good or evil save in the will; and that we are not to lead events, but to follow them.
In what Manner we ought to bear Sickness. Book iii. Chap. x.
In every affair consider what precedes and what follows, and then undertake it.[746:1]
That Everything is to be undertaken with Circumspection. Chap. xv.
There is a fine circumstance connected with the character of a Cynic,—that he must be beaten like an ass, and yet when beaten must love those who beat him, as the father, as the brother of all.
Of the Cynic Philosophy. Chap. xxii.
First say to yourself what you would be; and then do what you have to do.
Concerning such as read and dispute ostentatiously. Chap. xxiii.
Let not another's disobedience to Nature become an ill to you; for you were not born to be depressed and unhappy with others, but to be happy with them. And if any is unhappy, remember that he is so for himself; for God made all men to enjoy felicity and peace.
That we ought not to be affected by Things not in our own Power. Chap. xxiv.
Everything has two handles,—one by which it may be borne; another by which it cannot.
Enchiridion. xliii.
Footnotes
[747]
TACITUS. 54-119 a. d.
(The Oxford Translation. Bohn's Classical Library.)
The images of twenty of the most illustrious families—the Manlii, the Quinctii, and other names of equal splendour—were carried before it [the bier of Junia]. Those of Brutus and Cassius were not displayed; but for that very reason they shone with pre-eminent lustre.[747:1]
Annales. iii. 76. 11.
He had talents equal to business, and aspired no higher.[747:2]
Annales. vi. 39, 17.
He [Tiberius] upbraided Macro, in no obscure and indirect terms, "with forsaking the setting sun and turning to the rising."[747:3]
Annales. vi. 52 (46).
He possessed a peculiar talent of producing effect in whatever he said or did.[747:4]
Historiæ. ii. 80.
Some might consider him as too fond of fame; for the desire of glory clings even to the best men longer than any other passion.[747:5]
Historiæ. iv. 6.
The gods looked with favour on superior courage.[747:6]
Historiæ. iv. 17.
They make solitude, which they call peace.[747:7]
Agricola. 30.
Think of your ancestors and your posterity.[747:8]
Agricola. 32.
It belongs to human nature to hate those you have injured.[747:9]
Agricola. 42.
Footnotes
[748]
PLINY THE YOUNGER. 61-105 a. d.
(Translation by William Melmoth. Bohn's Classical Library.)
Modestus said of Regulus that he was "the biggest rascal that walks upon two legs."
Letters.[748:1] Book i. Letter v. 14.
There is nothing to write about, you say. Well, then, write and let me know just this,—that there is nothing to write about; or tell me in the good old style if you are well. That 's right. I am quite well.[748:2]
Letters. Book i. Letter xi. 1.
Never do a thing concerning the rectitude of which you are in doubt.
Letters. Book i. Letter xviii. 5.
The living voice is that which sways the soul.
Letters. Book ii. Letter iii. 9.
An object in possession seldom retains the same charm that it had in pursuit.[748:3]
Letters. Book ii. Letter xv. 1.
He [Pliny the Elder] used to say that "no book was so bad but some good might be got out of it."[748:4]
Letters. Book iii. Letter v. 10.
This expression of ours, "Father of a family."
Letters. Book v. Letter xix. 2.
That indolent but agreeable condition of doing nothing.[748:5]
Letters. Book viii. Letter ix. 3.
Objects which are usually the motives of our travels by land and by sea are often overlooked and neglected if they lie under our eye. . . . We put off from time to time going and seeing what we know we have an opportunity of seeing when we please.
Letters. Book viii. Letter xx. 1.
His only fault is that he has no fault.[748:6]
Letters. Book ix. Letter xxvi. 1.
Footnotes
[749]
MARCUS AURELIUS ANTONINUS. 121-180 a. d.
(Translated by M. H. Morgan, Ph. D., of Harvard University.)
This Being of mine, whatever it really is, consists of a little flesh, a little breath, and the part which governs.
Meditations. ii. 2.
The ways of the gods are full of providence.
Meditations. ii. 3.
Thou wilt find rest from vain fancies if thou doest every act in life as though it were thy last.[749:1]
Meditations. ii. 5.
Thou seest how few be the things, the which if a man has at his command his life flows gently on and is divine.
Meditations. ii. 5.
Find time still to be learning somewhat good, and give up being desultory.
Meditations. ii. 7.
No state sorrier than that of the man who keeps up a continual round, and pries into "the secrets of the nether world," as saith the poet, and is curious in conjecture of what is in his neighbour's heart.
Meditations. ii. 13.
Though thou be destined to live three thousand years and as many myriads besides, yet remember that no man loseth other life than that which he liveth, nor liveth other than that which he loseth.
Meditations. ii. 14.
For a man can lose neither the past nor the future; for how can one take from him that which is not his? So remember these two points: first, that each thing is of like form from everlasting and comes round again in its cycle, and that it signifies not whether a man shall look upon the same things for a hundred years or two hundred, or for an infinity of time; second, that the longest lived and the shortest lived man, when they come to die, lose one and the same thing.
Meditations. ii. 14.
[750]
As for life, it is a battle and a sojourning in a strange land; but the fame that comes after is oblivion.
Meditations. ii. 17.
Waste not the remnant of thy life in those imaginations touching other folk, whereby thou contributest not to the common weal.
Meditations. iii. 4.
The lot assigned to every man is suited to him, and suits him to itself.[750:1]
Meditations. iii. 4.
Be not unwilling in what thou doest, neither selfish nor unadvised nor obstinate; let not over-refinement deck out thy thought; be not wordy nor a busybody.
Meditations. iii. 5.
A man should be upright, not be kept upright.
Meditations. iii. 5.
Never esteem anything as of advantage to thee that shall make thee break thy word or lose thy self-respect.
Meditations. iii. 7.
Respect the faculty that forms thy judgments.
Meditations. iii. 9.
Remember that man's life lies all within this present, as 't were but a hair's-breadth of time; as for the rest, the past is gone, the future yet unseen. Short, therefore, is man's life, and narrow is the corner of the earth wherein he dwells.
Meditations. iii. 10.
Nothing has such power to broaden the mind as the ability to investigate systematically and truly all that comes under thy observation in life.
Meditations. iii. 11.
As surgeons keep their instruments and knives always at hand for cases requiring immediate treatment, so shouldst thou have thy thoughts ready to understand things divine and human, remembering in thy every act, even the smallest, how close is the bond that unites the two.
Meditations. iii. 13.
The ruling power within, when it is in its natural state, is so related to outer circumstances that it easily [751]changes to accord with what can be done and what is given it to do.
Meditations. iv. 1.
Let no act be done at haphazard, nor otherwise than according to the finished rules that govern its kind.
Meditations. iv. 2.
By a tranquil mind I mean nothing else than a mind well ordered.
Meditations. iv. 3.
Think on this doctrine,—that reasoning beings were created for one another's sake; that to be patient is a branch of justice, and that men sin without intending it.
Meditations. iv. 3.
The universe is change; our life is what our thoughts make it.
Meditations. iv. 3.
Nothing can come out of nothing, any more than a thing can go back to nothing.
Meditations. iv. 4.
Death, like generation, is a secret of Nature.
Meditations. iv. 5.
That which makes the man no worse than he was makes his life no worse: it has no power to harm, without or within.
Meditations. iv. 8.
Whatever happens at all happens as it should; thou wilt find this true, if thou shouldst watch narrowly.
Meditations. iv. 10.
Many the lumps of frankincense on the same altar; one falls there early and another late, but it makes no difference.
Meditations. iv. 15.
Be not as one that hath ten thousand years to live; death is nigh at hand: while thou livest, while thou hast time, be good.
Meditations. iv. 17.
How much time he gains who does not look to see what his neighbour says or does or thinks, but only at what he does himself, to make it just and holy.
Meditations. iv. 18.
Whatever is in any way beautiful hath its source of beauty in itself, and is complete in itself; praise forms no part of it. So it is none the worse nor the better for being praised.
Meditations. iv. 20.
[752]
Doth perfect beauty stand in need of praise at all? Nay; no more than law, no more than truth, no more than loving kindness, nor than modesty.
Meditations. iv. 20.
All that is harmony for thee, O Universe, is in harmony with me as well. Nothing that comes at the right time for thee is too early or too late for me. Everything is fruit to me that thy seasons bring, O Nature. All things come of thee, have their being in thee, and return to thee.
Meditations. iv. 23.
"Let thine occupations be few," saith the sage,[752:1] "if thou wouldst lead a tranquil life."
Meditations. iv. 24.
Love the little trade which thou hast learned, and be content therewith.
Meditations. iv. 31.
Remember this,—that there is a proper dignity and proportion to be observed in the performance of every act of life.
Meditations. iv. 32.
All is ephemeral,—fame and the famous as well.
Meditations. iv. 35.
Observe always that everything is the result of a change, and get used to thinking that there is nothing Nature loves so well as to change existing forms and to make new ones like them.
Meditations. iv. 36.
Search men's governing principles, and consider the wise, what they shun and what they cleave to.
Meditations. iv. 38.
Time is a sort of river of passing events, and strong is its current; no sooner is a thing brought to sight than it is swept by and another takes its place, and this too will be swept away.
Meditations. iv. 43.
All that happens is as usual and familiar as the rose in spring and the crop in summer.
Meditations. iv. 44.
That which comes after ever conforms to that which has gone before.
Meditations. iv. 45.
[753]
Mark how fleeting and paltry is the estate of man,—yesterday in embryo, to-morrow a mummy or ashes. So for the hair's-breadth of time assigned to thee live rationally, and part with life cheerfully, as drops the ripe olive, extolling the season that bore it and the tree that matured it.
Meditations. iv. 48.
Deem not life a thing of consequence. For look at the yawning void of the future, and at that other limitless space, the past.
Meditations. iv. 50.
Always take the short cut; and that is the rational one. Therefore say and do everything according to soundest reason.
Meditations. iv. 51.
In the morning, when thou art sluggish at rousing thee, let this thought be present; "I am rising to a man's work."
Meditations. v. 1.
A man makes no noise over a good deed, but passes on to another as a vine to bear grapes again in season.
Meditations. v. 6.
Flinch not, neither give up nor despair, if the achieving of every act in accordance with right principle is not always continuous with thee.
Meditations. v. 9.
Nothing happens to anybody which he is not fitted by nature to bear.
Meditations. v. 18.
Prize that which is best in the universe; and this is that which useth everything and ordereth everything.
Meditations. v. 21.
Live with the gods.
Meditations. v. 27.
Look beneath the surface; let not the several quality of a thing nor its worth escape thee.
Meditations. vi. 3.
The controlling Intelligence understands its own nature, and what it does, and whereon it works.